by Jeff Zillgitt, USA TODAY Sports

by Jeff Zillgitt, USA TODAY Sports

The U.S. women's bobsled team of Jazmine Fenlator and Lolo Jones finished third at Friday's selection race in Park City, Utah, enhancing their chance of making the U.S. team for World Cup races in advance of the 2014 Sochi Olympics.

The U.S. women's bobsled team for World Cup races is expected to be announced Saturday.

Jamie Greubel and Emily Azevedo finished first in the two-heat race with a time of one minute, 39.41 seconds. Elana Meyers and Tracey Stewart were second in 1:39.71, and Fenlator and Jones were third in 1:39.92.

"We just switched into the new BMW sleds and I felt a really good connection with the sled right away. I've been enjoying practice and trying to systematically work on my driving," Greubel said.

Jones, who finished fourth in the 100-meter hurdles at the London Olympics, is in good position to make the U.S. World Cup team. If she does, she will need strong results in World Cup races to reach the Olympics. The U.S. is guaranteed at least one team and can qualify as many as three teams for Sochi.

Meyers won bronze at the 2010 Vancouver Olympics as a brakeman/push athlete but is now a driver. She won silver at the 2013 world championships.

"It's been a good couple of weeks getting ready for the World Cup and I'm excited to head to Sochi, get some solid training there," Meyers said. "We have so many strong, powerful brakeman, and it's going to be exciting to see how this all turns out."

In the men's four-man race Friday, driver Steve Holcomb's team finished first in 1:35.99, followed by Nick Cunningham's team (1:36.53) and Cory Butner's team (1:36.99). The men will complete their final two selection races on Saturday.

Holcomb won gold at the 2010 Vancouver Olympics, marking the first time since 1948 that a U.S. men's four-man bobsled team finished first at the Olympics.

Holcomb and his team debuted the Night Train 2 sled designed Bo-Dyn Sled Projects, the company run by former NASCAR driver Geoff Bodine and Bob Cuneo of Chassis Dynamics. They have employed auto racing technology and ingenuity to bobsleds and brought in key motor sports insiders such as fabricator-designer Jim Garde, composite expert Hans deBot and aerodynamicist Louis Duncan.

Night Train 2 differs from Night Train, the sled that won gold in Whistler, in that it is made primarily of carbon fiber than than Kevlar and fiberglass.

"The start is obviously fantastic," Holcomb said. "Four-man is my forte. It's a lot more fun when you have all three guys hanging out with you. These guys are tough. They are the best in the world right now at what they do."

Holcomb was joined on the sled by Curt Tomasevicz, Steve Langton and Chris Fogt, and their two start times of 4.27 seconds and 4.76 seconds were the two best times of the night.

"We went in today like it was a World Cup race," said Holcomb who is already on the World Cup team based on last season's results. "It went well. I'm excited."